


Bathed in Scarlet

by paradoxmachine



Series: Cardinal Red [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternative Troll Genitalia, Ball Sucking, Fluff and Smut, Intercrural Sex, M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Post-Game(s), Quadrant Blurring, So much talking, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 10:17:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7614163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradoxmachine/pseuds/paradoxmachine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their love wasn't a magic cure-all for insecurity, but it made for a nice counter-force.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bathed in Scarlet

**Author's Note:**

> Non-fanon troll business, now with a sloppy [[explanation post]](http://thinkingaboutnsfw.tumblr.com/post/138022998707/here-im-just-gonna-cross-post-this-sorry-for) for anyone who hasn't read my other fics and is confused/interested/confusingly interested.

Karkat ran his hands gingerly up under Dave’s shirt, lips to his neck, knee between his thighs. He loved being able to feel the way Dave’s bulge swelled when he rubbed against it. Even from the slightest touches, as if it had been trained for this. Pavlov’s erection, standing at his every beck and call.

Karkat sighed and pulled away from him.

“Huuuuhmmm?” Dave said breathily, leaning toward him to try and reclaim a stolen kiss, but Karkat turned his head passively away. That was all the signal Dave needed to know something was rotten in the state of Denmark. He took a deep breath to try and calm his racing heart- he still got flustered every time they kissed like this, even after all this time- and put a hand on Karkat’s cheek to turn his face back to him, meeting his eyes with a questioning frown.

All Karkat needed was a pause to speak in, and he was off.

“Do you ever get the horrible, sinking feeling that one day, everything that makes you happy now isn’t going to matter anymore?” Karkat said, in the same tone of voice one might ask if you’d remembered to lock the back door before coming to bed. “That you’ll just keep doing what you’re doing, the same as you always have, out of a sense of obligation to the same platitudinous routines rather than any _actual_ sense of enjoyment, because that’s easier than digging yourself out of the trench of your own complacency?”

“Um, not while we’re making out, not usually,” Dave said, running his fingers through Karkat’s hair and scratching lightly at the base of his horn. “I mean, sure, I get that way sometimes, but is there uh… a reason you ask that while fondling my nips?”

Karkat gave a disgruntled sigh and leaned against Dave’s chest, letting his arms hang limply in his lap. Dave’s arms came up automatically to wrap tight around his shoulders, stroking along the bare skin of his shoulder blades and along the sharp ridges of his spine.

“You’re going to get tired of it, one day,” Karkat mumbled.  
“ _It_ ,” Dave repeated pointedly, raising his eyebrows even though Karkat couldn’t see them, face buried in his shoulder.  
“You know what I mean,” Karkat snapped impatiently. “This. Me. The way we-“  
He made a large, vague hand gesture that could have been anything, and most certainly didn’t resemble any sex act Dave was familiar with, but it was enough to get the point he was making.

Dave gave a heavy sigh into his hair, nuzzling his face into it for a moment before he answered.  
“No,” he said firmly. “I am absolutely, definitely certain I’m not gonna get tired of the way we fuck.”  
“But the thing is,” said Karkat. “We _don’t_ fuck. We _can’t_ fuck, not without one of us getting horribly mutilated in the process. I like my blackrom as much as the next troll, but genital mutilation is _not_ a standard practice in any but the most extreme kismesissitudes.”

“Yikes, okay, okay,” said Dave. “New rule, once the clothes start coming off, no talking about genital mutilation for at least a few hours post-coitus.”  
Karkat snickered and shook his head. “Don’t change the subject. I know you act like it doesn’t bother you, and I appreciate the thought, but how can it _not?_ It’s like we’re building it up and building it up, but there’s never any climax. Isn’t that disappointing?”

“Shit, Karkat,” Dave said, laughing. “I’ll tell you what, there have been fucking _tons_ of climaxes. Hell, you might still have some of my last climax in your hair- and if your jizz stained, I’d look like a nudist redneck.”  
“That’s not what I mean,” said Karkat. “I mean… imagine if sex were a narrative.”  
“Oh boy,” said Dave.  
“In Alternian novels, the relationship peaks at the point of- in a kismesissitude, penetration, and intertwining in a matespritship. But your bulge can neither twine nor constrict, and even during our blackest phases, there’s no safe way for us to-“ Karkat made another messy hand gesture, though the logistics of this one were a little more clear.

“So what you’re really saying is,” Dave said patiently. “ _You’re_ not satisfied with it.”  
“What?” said Karkat. “No, of course not. Everything you do for me is perfect.”  
“No, it’s okay,” said Dave. “You don’t have to force yourself to be satisfied. See, here’s the thing. You trolls have your tech, and your physical prowess, but you know what humans have?”  
“A layer of fur coating your extremities that rivals the softest of purrbeasts?” offered Karkat.  
“Ingenuity,” said Dave. “If there’s one thing humans are good at, it’s thinking up more and more obtuse ways to fuck. Hell, if we really need to, we can get a team on it. We got some prime engineers on base, and coincidentally most of them grew up isolated and with too much time on their hands. I figure they’ve got our asses.”  
“Phrasing,” said Karkat. “Also, I’d rather hang myself with my own eviscerated throb stalk than discuss copulatory devices with our friends.”

“Fair enough,” said Dave. “I was joking, anyway. I mean, it’s pretty straightforward. We’ll just get you a strap on if you wanna fuck me- hot, by the way. _Super_ fucking hot. And if I wanted to fuck you, we wouldn’t even need that, we’d just need…”  
Dave trailed off into a thoughtful pause, and Karkat had to lean back to look him in the face.  
“What?” he said, sounding concerned.  
“I was gonna say lube,” said Dave, “but honestly, with a bit of foreplay we don’t even need that. You get real drippy real fast. Also hot, by the way.”  
“I know, you’ve told me,” said Karkat. “But I don’t see how any amount of lubrication is going to solve the problem of our inherent incompatibility.”

“No, see,” said Dave. “You’re still thinking of it as long thing goes in hole. But it doesn’t really gotta be a hole, just a crevice works, and you can make a crevice nearly anywhere.”  
“What?” said Karkat.  
“Alright, so,” said Dave. “Way back when in a place called ancient Greece- uh, well I guess just called regular Greece back then, older dudes liked to hook up with younger dudes like, a whole lot. None of this no homo business, pretty much all of ‘em were full bi the way. So anyway, there was lots of dude sex in ancient Greece, but not a lot of futuristic butt hygiene or appreciation for the prostate. Which is a goddamn shame, not even quote-unquote straight Dave could ignore the call of the inner ‘oh’-zone.”  
“Get to the point,” said Karkat.  
“Yeah, okay,” said Dave. “Anyway. They had some hang ups about anal, but they loved fucking dudes, so what they did was-“

Dave reached to run his hands down Karkat’s legs, kneading his thighs gently in his palms. “Grease up one dude’s legs, squish ‘em together, and there you go. One archaic fuckhole ready for business.”  
“That’s the least romantic thing anyone’s ever said,” said Karkat.  
“Pretty sure I can think of worse,” said Dave. “Anyway, it’s not like we actually have to do it. I’m just sayin’ that we’ve got options.”

Karkat looked down intently at his bare legs, tentatively pressing his knees together. He reached down to press a finger down into the ‘Y’ that formed in his boxers, rubbing it intently in and out while Dave watched, transfixed.  
“Hm,” said Karkat. “I can definitely feel that on my globes. With something bigger, and more foreplay…”  
“What, you really want to do it?” said Dave.  
“Don’t you?” said Karkat.  
“I wasn’t lying,” said Dave, “I’ve never been disappointed by the way we do it. Fuckin’ far from it. But it could be…”

Dave put his hands on Karkat’s shoulders and pressed him lightly back onto the bed, sliding up over him, hips pressed flush against his hips. He tilted his head back to meet Karkat’s eyes and gave a few experimental thrusts, pressing the troll’s body firmly into the sheets.

“Could be fun,” Dave finished, trying to shrug off his fluster, but Karkat’s reaction made that impossible. He’d gone still beneath him but his eyes had gone wide, a pink flush seeping through the ashen grey of his cheeks. And when Dave shifted again, he could very clearly feel the resistance of something warm and wet sticking Karkat’s boxers to his skin.

“You okay?” Dave asked quickly, when he didn’t respond.

Karkat tilted his head up to kiss him, running a hand down his back to squeeze his ass, pressing him down more firmly against him. Dave hummed against his lips and kissed back, fingers tangling in his hair, pulling lightly.

“Uh,” said Karkat. “This is confusing.”  
“Which part?” said Dave.  
“The part where,” said Karkat, “I’m feeling flush for you right now, but the way you’re moving is reading as black, and it’s… very…”  
“Arousing?” offered Dave.  
“Hm,” said Karkat.  
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” said Dave.  
“Hmmm,” said Karkat.

Dave slid his hands down to Karkat’s hips, holding him in place as he shifted his own, lining up his stiffening cock with the crevice of his thighs. He rubbed up against him more intently, pressing his lips against Karkat’s throat in a way he knew read as strictly flush, just to intensify the contrast.

Karkat gripped his chin, pulling him back up to meet his lips. His tongue slid eagerly into Dave’s open mouth, meeting his tongue and drawing it back into his own mouth to suck. He broke the kiss only to pull Dave’s shirt off over his head, leaving both of them in nothing but their underwear.

“Can I get a hell yeah on trying the thighs thing, then?” said Dave. “Cuz, just by the way, I could wax poetic about your legs for eons.”  
“Hell yeah,” Karkat said blandly, rolling his eyes.  
“ _Hell_ yeah,” said Dave. He hooked his thumbs under the waistband of Karkat’s boxers and shimmed gracelessly down to his knees, taking them with him. “Lemme tell you about these thighs.”  
“You really don’t have to,” said Karkat.

“I gotta,” said Dave. “Gotta open me a can o’ those gams- pour me a tall drink of hot fuckin’ damn-  
Wanna sink my teeth into those thighs- ‘n’ ride ‘em ‘til we both capsize-  
Like volcanic eruptions- and no interruptions-  
Squeeze your ass and make you quiver- Feel your flow just like a river-  
Spillin’ freely o’er my thorax- hotter than the lava on lohac’s-  
Surface tension overflowing- hitching breath, your pleasure’s growing-  
Past the point of no return- I’m drowning in your passion’s burn-  
Can’t stop, I’m addicted- could say I’m afflicted-  
Can’t regret this obsession- Here’s my honest confession-  
Rather drink your cum than the finest wine- feel your fingers sliding down my spine-  
Been a god for sweeps, ain’t half as divine- as my name on your lips and your lips on mine-  
See you gush through your seed flap, ‘n’ I know it’s a sign- that tonight’s gonna be-“ 

Dave paused to run his tongue slowly up the crease where Karkat’s leg met his torso. He exhaled slowly over the cool trail of saliva left behind, cheek pressed to Karkat’s thigh, eyes locked on Karkat’s.  
“ _Real_ fuckin’ fine,” he finished. 

“Was that really necessary?” said Karkat, covering his face with both hands.  
“You loved it,” said Dave.  
“Shut the fuck up,” said Karkat.  
“Make me,” said Dave. 

Karkat squeezed his legs together around Dave’s head, coincidentally forcing his face right into his globes. Dave gave an approving hum and let his tongue slide out over them, hands coming up to hold his knees in place.

“Sweet _fuck_ , Dave,” Karkat said as Dave sucked one globe fully into his mouth. He arched his back slightly, burying his hands in Dave’s hair as his stalk slithered out from between his ventral scales, smearing red over his lower belly and Dave’s flushed cheek.

Karkat slumped back onto the bed, letting his legs go limp so that Dave could sit up. Dave ignored the gesture, making a show of slurping the sweat from his globes while his arm moved up to meet Karkat’s twining stalk. His other hand bounced lightly through the tangle of sticky fibers, like a sloppy drunk playing piano one handed.

Karkat bit down hard on the side of his hand to stifle a moan, but the sound slipped past just as loudly as if he hadn’t bothered. Dave’s lips moved eagerly across his inner thighs, sucking red marks into his skin.

“I’m serious,” said Dave. “I could mack on your thighs for hours and not get tired of it. So plush, so warm, mmh, that’s my shit.”  
“I thought you were going to fuck me,” said Karkat.  
“ _Yeah_ ,” Dave sighed. “Oh my god. Are you like, ready for that, then?”  
“I don’t know,” Karkat grumbled. “I don’t know how this works. I want… you, please?”

Dave planted one more definitive kiss on Karkat’s thigh before shifting up to his elbows and knees. One handed, the other still occupied with Karkat’s stalk, he slowly worked his underwear out of the way and kicked it aside.  
“Here’s your warning,” said Dave. “I’m gonna put this somewhere delicate. Try not to break my dick.”  
“No promises,” said Karkat, watching with rapt attention as Dave maneuvered his stalk down between his legs, disentangling it from his arm to wrap it instead firmly around his balls and the base of his shaft. With his arm freed from its grip, he took a moment to inspect the smears of candy red that coated it.

“See,” said Dave. “Who needs lube? We could bottle this shit, make a business out of it.”  
“No,” said Karkat.  
“It was a joke,” said Dave.  
“ _No_ ,” said Karkat.  
“Eau de Karkat,” said Dave.  
“No!!” Karkat screeched. “Why was I cursed with such an abhorrent quadrantmate?”  
“You love me,” said Dave, sitting back on his knees while he kneaded Karkat’s fluids into his spread thighs.  
“I love you so much it’s disgusting,” Karkat bemoaned. “Get up here and kiss me.”

Dave giggled and draped himself over Karkat’s chest, wiping his hands on the sheets so that he could run them through his hair. Their mouths met with familiar fondness, pulling at each other’s lips and tongues with their teeth in their eagerness to get _more_ from each other, everything there was to give and take.

“ _Fuck_ , your stalk is tight,” Dave sighed, grinding against Karkat’s wet thighs. “Good tight, really good, feels- _great_ , are you ready for this?”  
“I feel stupid,” said Karkat.  
“You feel incredible,” Dave reassured him. “If you don’t like it, we’ll do something else. I just wanna be close to you.”  
“Yeah, okay,” said Karkat. He pressed his legs together with his hands, his knees slightly bent and his hips angled with a slight arch. “Don’t chafe your dick on my bone bulge.”  
“I’ll try not to,” said Dave.

Dave positioned his legs securely on either side of Karkat, one hand braced against his chest, the other moving between his legs to move himself into position. His eyes closed as the tip of his cock slipped up and down the crease in his thighs. He bit his lip and pressed it in between them, thrusting down firmly the way he’d so often thrust up into his own hand or Karkat’s.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Dave moaned, reaching up to cling to Karkat’s chest with both arms. “Oh- oh my god-“  
Karkat wrapped his arms around Dave’s shoulders, holding him tightly. “Good?”  
“ _Yes_ ,” said Dave quickly. “Yes yes, oh my god.”  
Dave buried his face in the crook of Karkat’s neck, hips rolling in quick, jerky motions between Karkat’s thighs. Karkat pressed a crooked kiss to his cheek, arms tightening around him, stalk doing the same between his legs.

“Karkat, it feels- ahhh-“ Dave moaned, tilting his head up to kiss his jaw. “Feels really- good- how’s it feel for you?”  
“It’s… good,” said Karkat, but there was a forced edge to his tone that Dave picked up on immediately.  
Dave stopped moving, panting softly, and reached up to put his hand on Karkat’s cheek.  
“What’s up?” he said breathlessly.  
“It’s good, keep going,” said Karkat.  
Dave gave a low hum and pressed a soft kiss underneath his chin.  
“It’s _fine_ ,” said Karkat. “It’s not doing anything for me, but you’re enjoying it, so…”

“Thank you for telling me,” said Dave. “But I don’t… nah. Isn’t the point of this to get off together?”  
“I guess,” said Karkat.  
“Wanna try another position?” said Dave. “I think you’re right, the bone bulge thing is messing up my angle, but we could try from behind.”  
“Do you really think that’ll help?” Karkat said dubiously.  
Dave shrugged. “If it doesn’t, you can sit on my face just as easily, no harm no foul.”

Karkat shook his head and pulled him into another kiss while he reached down to disentangle his stalk from Dave’s cock. It was a delicate process, but Dave seemed far from heartbroken to have an excuse to linger and kiss him.

“Okay,” said Karkat, once he had it coiled around his wrist and palm. “Get up so I can roll over.”

Dave helped him turn over one handed, shifting around pillows to prop him up more comfortably. He reached to squeeze his ass appreciatively with both hands, decorating the back of Karkat’s neck and shoulders with kisses.

“Up on your knees a little more,” Dave advised as he moved into position behind him. Karkat moved obligingly, rubbing his ass firmly against the underside of Dave’s shaft. Dave’s breath caught, and he let it out slowly in a shaky sigh.

Like before, Dave guided his cock into position, sliding it between the tightness of Karkat’s thighs. Once he was tucked snugly between them, though, he reached around with both hands, kneading Karkat’s globes back against the head of his cock.

“Aaaah-“ Karkat sighed, hips bucking back slightly.  
“Better?” Dave said, grinning.  
“ _Yes_ ,” Karkat moaned.  
“Glad we tried another position?” said Dave.  
“Yessssss,” Karkat hissed.  
“Want me to fuck you like we’re drowning in a capsized kayak?”  
“Ye- what?” said Karkat.

“Desperately and like our lives depend on it,” Dave explained, holding Karkat close against him while he thrust down hard. There was more friction for Karkat in this position, but it was his hands that really made it worth it, rubbing him firmly in time to every thrust.  
“Yes, yes, yes!” Karkat sputtered, no longer caring exactly what Dave was mumbling about. He’d hit that point where his physical desire was beating out any thirst for rhyme or reason. “Fuck me!”  
“Working on it-“ Dave grunted. “Ah- ahh-“

Dave relished the wet slap of his thighs against Karkat’s, rocking steadily, building slick, perfect friction between Karkat’s legs. His fingers worked against his globes just as eagerly, carefully in time to every thrust. Karkat moaned without restraint, pressing his hips back against Dave’s, knees sliding against the sheets.

“Daaaave-“ Karkat moaned. He sank his teeth deep into a pillow, body curling up off the bed to try and get _more_ out of Dave, more friction, more contact. He felt so incredibly vulnerable in this position, his globes in Dave’s hands, his back exposed. The act of fucking still felt so _black_ , and the juxtaposition of Dave’s tenderness so out of place and bordering on forbidden.

“ _Kar_ kat,” Dave moaned back, leaning all his weight against him as his hips bucked desperately down. He curled tight around him, chest to his back, face buried in the back of his neck. “I love you, Karkat. I love you, I love you, I love-“

Karkat’s thighs tightened around him, back arching, hips jerking down into his hands and rubbing intently. Even with his face in the pillow his moan was resounding, and his whole body shook with the force of the orgasm coursing through him. Sticky red seeped down all the way to Dave’s knees, making an odd squishing sound as Dave continued to ride him through it.

“You’re so hot when you cum,” Dave panted in his ear, straining breathlessly for his own release.  
“I love you,” Karkat groaned, reaching to squeeze his hand.  
“I love- you-“ Dave said with a few more jagged thrusts, before thrusting in hard and staying there. The splash of his own contribution to the slime puddle was so disproportionately weak he couldn’t help but laugh, despite the last of his orgasm still pulsing through him in tiny, residual waves.

They lay together in relative silence after that, both panting heavily to try and reclaim their breath, before Karkat managed to grunt, “Dave.”  
“Wha?” said Dave.  
“Get the fuck off, you’re crushing my breathing sacs.”  
“Fuck, sorry,” said Dave, rolling off of him and right into the mess of fluids. He pulled Karkat’s arm up over him instead, sliding half underneath him, nuzzling into his shoulder.

Karkat pulled him more securely into a hug, and then into a kiss, slow, soft, and lingering.  
“So there you go,” said Dave. “We’ve officially Fucked, trademark. How’s that feel?”  
“I liked it,” said Karkat. “I’d do it again. But I wish we could’ve faced each other, I like being able to kiss you.”  
“Tell you what,” said Dave. “When you fuck me, we’ll do it missionary style on a bed of rose petals, you sappy fuck.”  
“Hmm,” Karkat said thoughtfully. “A traditional Alternian mating ritual involves wearing silks of your partner’s blood color. Could we do that?”

Dave blearily opened his eyes.  
“You’d really be comfortable wearing that much red?” he said.  
“I wouldn’t say _comfortable_ ,” said Karkat. “But with you… I’m getting used to seeing red.”  
Dave smiled and kissed him.  
“I like how you say that,” said Dave. “Like some deep revelation, but you’re actually being literal, and the literal thing you’re talking about is me covered in jizz.”  
“Shut up,” said Karkat. “It can be deep _and_ literal.”  
“Give it to me deep and literal,” said Dave, waggling his eyebrows.  
“Shut _up!_ ” said Karkat, shoving a pillow at his face while Dave laughed.


End file.
